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I seem to have lost a follower somewhere. It's hard not to take it personally!

Today, I want to feature some second-hand trade paperback collections I've read over the last two or three months, featuring comic characters re-imagined by modern (ish) creators.

In the autumn, I felt I wanted to re-connect with  (relatively) contemporary takes on some of the most visually-interesting comics characters. I had enjoyed gritty, well-written series like Hawkeye and  Iron Fist  but the modern Ms.Marvel had given me a taste for more fanciful fare. Also, I wanted to complete runs that I had begun in the Noughties but never finished.

The first of those was Kyle Baker's Plastic Man from late 2004. This is a highly inventive and very entertaining series. The first collection, On The Lam, even has a plastic cover!  It takes a cartoony and playful look at Plas's past as crooked "Eel" O'Brien; there's also a FF parody and a JLA cameo. A worthy Eisner Award winner, with charm, melodrama and pathos.

I bought the first issue of  Cooke and Sale's Superman Confidential  in 2006, largely because I liked Daredevil: Yellow from earlier in the decade. This six-part arc, Kryptonite details Clark's first encounter with the lethal meteor rock,

Jimmy Olsen is a feisty, Kirby-esque scrapper ( you should pardon the pun); Lois captures something of the sexy Teri Hatcher version and there's a corpulent Luthor. My only criticism is that the green alein who guides Supers through his Kryptonian origins could've been J'Onn J'Onzz. However, it's a tale of vulnerability, love and higher meaning in a noirish Metropolis with touches of Ditko.

Speaking of Ditko, Dr. Strange: The Oath from 2006 is a quirky, flirty thriller in the vein of Moffat's Sherlock where the Sorceror Supreme is investigating an attempt on his own life. Kitschy  romance heroine Night Nurse is the love interest.

 My librarian pal disliked the fact she wasn't "Night Doctor" but her Watson-to-Strange's- Holmes role provides a better dynamic than drippy Clea, I think this gutsy and hip flashback-filled story would be ideal movie material and I love the hints of Vincent Price in Stephen Strange.

Tomorrow's Heroes collects the early issues of the comics adaptation of the animated Legion of Super-Heroes. The two series had its own internal continuity unlike any previously seen in comics- which is of course, the curse of the Legion.

It features an older-than -usual Superboy (referred to rather confusingly as Superman) as his manga-flavoured friends from the future help him achieve his destiny. Tyroc, Starro, Validus, Emerald Empress, the Green Lantern Corps and the Subs all appear. The idea of a Amazon Legionnaire is genius and I would have liked to see more of Zenobia, princess of New Themyscira. One of the boys in my S2 class was fascinated that, at his age, Shooter was creating and writing the Fatal Five, Ferro Lad and others.It's probably too cartoony a collection for young teen taste, however.

Some day, I hope to review both the most recent Shooter and Levitz versions of the LSH  but it seems a rather mammoth undertaking . I miss a regular Legion comic though.

Finally Duncan Rouleau's Metal Men from  2007 utilises ideas by Grant Morrison for a sci-fi romp through the periodic table with the performance-minded family of dysfunctional 'droids. I found it a little dense and visually murky. The pace is also somewhat breakneck for one sitting but cameos by a Manhunter, the Missile Men, Chemo and B.O.L.T.S make for a likeable adventure for the alloyed allies, Science nerd Will Magnus also strongly prefigures Matt Smith's Doctor Who.

And on that note, future posts will look at the final episodes of Capaldi's Season Nine; lost stories of the Third Doctor and the Fantastic Four; and Supergirl on tv. Then my annual festive posts will appear pre-and post-Xmas!

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